Iran claims Al-Asad missile strike as revenge for Soleimani, demands US withdrawal from Iraq

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran reportedly confirmed their missiles struck a US base in western Iraq, calling it revenge for the killing of General Qassem Soleimani and warning more strikes might be coming.

“The brave soldiers of IRGC's aerospace unit have launched a successful attack with tens of ballistic missiles” on the Al-Asad base, in the name of General Soleimani, the IRGC said in a statement early on Wednesday morning, adding:

We call on Americans to recall all their soldiers back home to prevent more damage.

The IRGC also warned all US allies in the region that they will be targeted if any aggressive action is undertaken from their territory, putting Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel on notice.

Saeed Jalili, an adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, took to Twitter soon after the strikes to taunt US President Donald Trump, posting a lone image of an Iranian flag, just as Trump did with an American flag the night Soleimani was killed. 

Iran's telecommunications minister, Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, also weighed in with a tweet, insisting that Washington “Get the hell out of our region!”

Iran threatened “hard revenge” against the US for Soleimani’s death. The leader of IRGC’s Quds Force was assassinated in a drone strike last Thursday, outside Baghdad international airport in Iraq.

The strike on Al-Asad and several other US bases in Iraq took place at 01:20 local time, the exact time Soleimani’s convoy was struck.

President Trump called Soleimani a “monster” and a terrorist, whose death saved lives, and threatened Iran with “disproportionate” US strikes if it endangered any Americans anywhere. 

Trump also ruled out US withdrawal from Iraq, contrary to a letter that was sent to the government in Baghdad on Monday by a regional US commander, saying that doing so would practically hand the country over to Tehran.

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